Gene Frederiksen loves technology that's seamless. As chief security officer of financial advisory firm, Raymond James, it's his job to make sure planners can use the office technology without thinking about it — and keep the network and data safe.  This is why he's a big fan of using something as simple, and unique, as a fingerprint to log-on to a network — just not for his company.

"We tried it with some of the administrative people, the real pencil pushers, and they had so many paper cuts we couldn't get their fingerprints to work," Frederiksen said. "I like the idea of fingerprints to log-in. You can lose a key fob or leave a smart card at home, but you've always got your fingerprints. It just has to work. And we're still 18 to 24 months away."

Fingerprint recognition technology is just one example of biometrics — the automated recognition of a person using physical or behavioral characteristics. Once thought to exist in the land of science fiction, fingerprint identification, retinal scans, voice and even face recognition software are quickly making their way into standard security practices.

Raymond James may be waiting, but plenty of financial firms aren't when it comes to adopting biometrics in their security systems. Bank of America has installed palm readers in some of its branches as an added layer of security to identify safety-deposit box holders. And Discover Financial Services is planning to add a biometric layer to its cards this year.

Fingerprint authentication has also made a huge push in the retail arena. Customers of grocery store Piggly Wiggly can drop in for a quart of milk, dozen eggs, and a package of bacon and check out just with their fingerprint. It makes searching for a debit card a thing of the past.

The upside for financial planners is the added security. With planners holding on to personal client data such as Social Security numbers, tax returns, and account numbers, security is a big concern — not to mention a compliance issue. Biometrics used in conjunction with smart cards -- or even simple passwords -- can be an extra layer of defense against theft. A hacker may be able to crack a password and even steal a smart card — but a fingerprint is harder to hack.

Yet fingerprint scanners are still fairly new. While a number of laptop manufacturers have added them as a bonus feature, they come at a decent price. Readers are available on some Toshiba and Fujitsu laptops and on IBM ThinkPad's. And Microsoft offers a desktop fingerprint reader for $75 that lets users log-on to certain Web sites, such as Hotmail, with just a single touch. While not a princely sum for a small office — for firms with employees numbering in the thousands, it's not a small add-on.

"Until those computers from Dell or Hewlett-Packard come with fingerprint readers at no additional cost, and Microsoft provides native support at the log-in level, it's unlikely we would do a big rollout for it," said Frederiksen.